U.S. inconsistencies hurting us around world

March 14, 2014

No wonder so many foreign leaders are reluctant to go along with U.S. policy initiatives. From one day to the next, President Barack Obama's inconsistencies have meant flipping a coin is an appropriate method of predicting how the White House will react to the next world crisis.

New Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visited the White House on Wednesday. The trip was arranged as a show of U.S. support for the new regime in Yatsenyuk's country.

But, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin has pointed out, the new regime took power through a coup that deposed an elected government. That was part of Putin's excuse for sending Russian troops to the Crimean region of Ukraine.

Obama supports the coup government.

In another strategically important country, Egypt, the situation is different. There, an elected government controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood was deposed in a 2011 coup.

Obama's reaction was to condemn the new Egyptian regime - again, one that deposed a government very unfriendly to the United States.

Again, it is no wonder so many foreign leaders do not know what to expect.

Which will it be, Mr. President? Do you reject coups - or only those that install regimes friendly to the U.S.?